Green Tears

Triptych for the Exhibition “Puni-Puni”

Role: Digital Art

Project Overview

Seventeen different artists from Japan and Spain were invited to participate in a group exhibition called ‘Puni-Puni: Diverse perspectives on graphic creation amongst Japanese and Spanish artists’. Puni-puni is a Japanese onomatopoeia to describe the sound of something soft being squeezed; in other words, it is the sound of ‘cuddly’ things.

A considerable amount of modern Japanese industry is based on the design, production, and commercialisation of puni-puni objects: childlike characters or dolls that can be seen in a wide range of soft toys, vinyl records, capsule toys, fashion accessories, jelly sweets, company mascots… This kawaii (a word used to describe children and small, delicate things: cute, endearing, adorable) trend, visible in a number of Japanese products, is perhaps one of the most prominent aspects of Japan’s visual culture.

The Solution

A ‘cuddly’, kawaii-inspired triptych illustrates a process that, while negative on the surface, results in a positive outcome: a sadness that evokes tears but also helps to form bonds with new life, the tears transformed once again into plant-like forms.